DESIGN FOR MASS CUSTOMIZATION USING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE: CASE-STUDY OF A BALLOON-POWERED CAR
Year: 2015
Editor: Christian Weber, Stephan Husung, Marco Cantamessa, Gaetano Cascini, Dorian Marjanovic, Serena Graziosi
Author: Chen, Tian; Fritz, Stoeckli; Shea, Kristina
Series: ICED
Institution: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland
Section: Design for X, Design to X
Page(s): 245-254
ISBN: 978-1-904670-67-4
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
Additive Manufacturing offers unique advantages to produce customized designs. This paper demonstrates the capability for mass customization using Additive Manufacture through a case-study of a balloon powered car developed for a course. Two components of the assembly, the body and wheels are individualized by each student. To reduce the design-print iterations to a maximum of one while maintaining success rate of the fabricated parts, nine AM process constraints are determined through systematic physical tests. These are minimum dimensions, feature spacing and angles, and press fit tolerances and minimum overhang angle for self-supporting fabrication. A total of 2300 unique designs are created by the students and fabricated with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using uPrint SE Plus. All function as intended with the exception of one set of wheels and many car bodies that omitted the press fit joint from the first iteration. No car bodies failed from the second iteration or due fabrication limitations. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the AM constraints determined and their upfront use in design to reduce design-print iteration rather than as a post-process.
Keywords: Computer Aided Design (CAD), Additive Manufacturing Process Characterization, Design For Additive Manufacturing, Mass Customization